Made To Last
by Inxsomnia
Summary: This happens after Rick and Jessie shared their first kiss. They just start seeing each other. Also after the big herd fight at Alexandria. Jessie and the kids are still alive. Alexandria is back to normal again. Michonne is about to know the answer, but is the answer Rick or Daryl? Will Rick finds his happiness with Jessie or Michonne? Team Richonne or Team Dixonne?
1. Chapter 1

**It's 6.00 AM. Another day.**  
Michonne was already awake before the timer goes off. She gets out of bed and gets herself ready for a new day.  
She quietly goes downstairs, trying hard to not wake up the house. She goes into the kitchen and makes herself some breakfast.  
After a little while, Rick joins her.

"Heeey, morning."  
"Morning, to you too". You are in a good mood", Michonne said.  
"Uhh, yeah, finally had a goodnight sleep". I think Judith is near that age where she finally sleeps through the night."  
"Haha, I know right!  
"You up early?", Rick said.  
"Yeah, I'm going on a run with Daryl in a bit, do you need anything?", Michonne asked while packing up her bag.  
"Again?"  
"Yes, last time we were at this town and we cleared a lot of walkers. Decided to clear the remaining walkers today". We might find some stuff we need."

"Ah I see, well all good here. You back in time for Spencer's party? Uh, well more of a gathering actually," Rick said. _Spencer is still mourning the loss of his mother. But he has to keep the community alive and get the community back as it was before. Luckily, Maggie was a great support to him._  
"Oh, is it today? I almost forgot. What time is it?", Michonne asked.  
"Around 7.30 pm. And the very first time Carl and Ron will be in the same room after the whole Pete and herd thing. I hope they'll be okay."  
"They will come around, I hope. Besides, Carl is a forgiving and wonderfull person. How's Ron by the way? And how's Jessie? Everything good?", Michonne asked.

"Not so sure about Ron. Jessie is having a hard time with him too. It's like that time when Carl was so mad at me and shut me out. But luckily you were there for him..and for me at that time. And Sam, well Sam is just a kid, he's been in here the whole time. He doesn't know better. He really needs to learn a lot of the world outside the walls. And Jessie...she's doing ok. She is a strong woman, she will get pass this, I really believe she will. Everything good." Rick said, trying hard to not smile and think of Jessie.

"You know, you look really good lately. Jessie is a nice person and she's good for you. I am really happy for you, Rick. I really am.", Michonne said, while smiling lovely at him.  
 _He really does look happy. If Rick is happy, she's happy too. He deserves it after the hell they went through. He looked at ease, almost calm. And Jessie was good for him._

By this time, Michonne already finished packing her stuff and ready to go.

"Thank you, Michonne. See you tonight?...And be carefull out there". Rick said, while throwing an apple towards her.  
"Always am". She catches the apple, smiles and off she goes.

* * *

Michonne arrives at the front gate. She greets Sasha, who's already on duty so early in the morning. "Morning", Sasha said cheerfully. It's nice to see that Sasha is being her usuall self again. Alexandria really did her good. Heck, Alexandria did everybody good, they have a roof, water, food..albeit the lack of food lately. But they are all doing well.  
"Abraham, late again?", Michonne asked. "Do you even have to ask?", Sasha said. Michonne thinking back at her silly question, she does it everytime. The girls both laughing.

 _And then there's Daryl. Daryl was already waiting for her, ready and go with his bike. He spent unbelievable hours at Aaron's house, fixing that bike. Everybody actually wondered if there was actually something more going on there. All in all, it all worked out well. It's nice that Daryl made a friend here._  
"Hey mam, ya ready?", Daryl asked  
"Yes, let's go. I'm ready."  
Michonne hops onto his bike and they drove off.

"Take care you two!", Sasha shouted while closing the front gate, not sure if they even heard her. Before Sasha even noticed, Abraham helped her closing the gate.  
"So, guess who did the nasty last night, like really loud?".

* * *

After a few hours drive, Daryl and Michonne hides the bike behind some bushes and they decided to continue by foot, towards the abandoned town.

"Looks like it rained a lot here, hope some of the walkers went away.", Daryl said.  
"Yeah, we'll see." They look at each other for a moment, before they walked further into the woods. The whole woods smells like petrichor and there's a lot of mud. It smells good tho, especially so early in the morning. It was also really quiet, except for a few early birds whistles.

While walking through the woods, Michonne wanders off into her own mind.

 _She really likes being with Daryl. Those little chats, going outside the walls or being on watch together. But most of all, Michonne really likes going on a run with Daryl. They can walk for hours without talking but yet, they are just there. They just understand each other. And she's being herself, she's free, she's...relieved. It's a different feeling than being in Alexandria. She has those moments that she's being trapped there or being asleep, not knowing what to do. It may sounds weird, but she enjoys going outside the walls. Maybe a little too much. It's like those times at the prison, where she frequently went away... lots of times, but back then, she was running off. She was a nobody, she had nobody. Well, she had Andrea. The thought of Andrea, her friend..._ Michonne smiles a little.

 _But now, she not only has a friend, she has a whole family. A family whom she would give her life for. Her everything. She enjoys going away to clear her head..or maybe...is it because of this feeling.  
 _This feeling she's having lately._ These feelings she hasn't felt in a long time. It's so confusing._

 _She then thinks back to the question Deanna asked her. That question. Yes, that question. What does she wants?_  
 _What does it mean? Does it has to do with what she's feeling now? Is she finally able to let down her wall, opens up her heart and let someone in? Is she ready to love again?_

 _Michonne then looks at Daryl, who walks in front of her. He always does that. He knows Michonne can take care of herself, but it's out of habit of him to walk in front of her. She likes that about him, his actions always speaks louder than words.  
He really do look good from behind, she literally was checking him out. She kind of chuckles at the thought how much his hair grew, since they first met. Her eyes then draws to his arms, those thight biceps. ___Looks like he had been working out lately._ And then her eyes draws towards his vest, which has those huge wings on it. It's funny how they both have a thing for vests. Well, they both do look good in vests. _She smiles again. _  
_

"We're here."  
"Michonne?"  
Michonne snapped out of her thoughts. "Euh yes."  
"We're here. Looks like the heavy rain really drew them away, there are still some roaming around, but not a lot. Let's take them all out first, before we go searching for goods. Be carefull.", Daryl said.  
Daryl winks at Michonne, and then turns around with his crossbow in his hands and walks towards the first walker he sees.

Michonne nods and quickly goes back to her combat mode. _This feeling, this answer... is it Daryl? Are these feelings she's having for Daryl or for someone else?  
_ Michonne slowly catches up with Daryl and kills the walkers who came up towards them.  
 _  
Whatever these feelings, I have to figure it out...soon..._

 ** _Note: This is my first ever fanfiction written. Hope you like it. I'm not sure who Michonne will ends up with in this story. I can't decide yet, I just love both Daryl and Rick. But my Richonne feelings are too strong too. Maybe, you readers can pick one!_**


	2. Chapter 2

**It's 8.00 AM. Back at Alexandria.**

The townies are slowly waking up and doing their daily tasks.  
Carol is making her round in Alexandria, sharing her homemade cookies and then stopped by one of those housewives to catch up.  
Maggie is talking with Spencer. Glenn, Father Gabriel. Tobin and Morgan are looking at this blue print, which Morgan is holding. They are planning on re-building the town church.  
Some of the Alexandrians are fixing the walls on the other side of the town. The herd attack last time did a lot of damage.  
They didn't even knew it until the next day. And it took them days to remove all the dead bodies. Town smelled horrible. They are lucky they had the tools to re-build the town.  
Rosita is currently on watch, while Sasha and Abraham are having a little coffee break.

Meanwhile, Rick is enjoying some time with Judith at home. Carl just woke up.

"Morning dad, you see Michonne?", Carl asked.  
"Morning Carl, yes, she's on a supply run with Daryl. Left early in the morning. You need her for something?"  
"No, I was just wondering."  
"She will be back later the day, Spencer's party, remember?", Rick said.

"So, is your eye healing well? How is the training going?"  
"It's going well, it hurts sometimes, but I'm good. In fact, it's time to clean my bandages.", Carl said.  
"Want me to help you?"  
"No, it's ok dad. I'm going to meet Enid now, we'll drop by Denise later."  
"What about breakfast?"  
"Not really hungry, but I'll eat something later, got to go!"  
"Well at least, have...", Rick was about to say an apple, but he gave Michonne their last apple this morning.  
Rick kind off chuckles to himself.

Before he knew, Carl was already outside. Rick stood there with Judith in his arms at their porch.  
They were watching Carl until he disappears around the corner.

* * *

 **12.00 AM.**

Michonne and Dary finally cleared the town. It was harder than they thought it would be.  
They both looked like a mess, covered in blood, guts and mud. But at least the hard part is over.

Michonne looks at Daryl and laughs. "Oh, Daryl, you look horrible.", Well he did.  
"So, where to start?", Michonne asked.  
"Lets go search the houses first and we'll finish that store there at the end of the street.", as Daryl pointed out.

They went through some houses and found some stuff they needed. Michonne found a new blouse to wear, which she combine it with a brown faux leather jacket.  
 _After all these years, guts is the thing she despises the most. Especially when they all get into her hair. It took her hours to clean it out last time. Not cool._

Michonne found some comics too. _She hesitated if she should take them. She wasn't really sure if Carl still likes comics._  
 _He matured so much the last couple months, she doesn't know if she can call him a kid anymore.  
_

Daryl found a box with old cigars on this coffee table. He took one out of the box and stares at it.  
Michonne caught him staring.

"You know, you can have it, if you want." Michonne said.  
"My old man used to smoke these back in the days. I remember Merle and I stole some to smoke it one day. Got in big trouble that time. Me more than Merle. That man got his faves. Found out that cigars weren't my thing. Besides, I'm more of a cigarette kinda guy."

"Ofcourse, you are." Michonne jokingly said. "So how did he..", Michonne got interrupted when they hear a loud noise from upstairs.  
"I'm on it." Daryl puts the cigar back in its box and he goes upstairs to kill the walker.

They finally were done searching the houses. What's only left is the store. It's a little supermarket as they approaches. It looked so small from the outside, but it's actually kind of big inside. Looks like nobody bothered to raid it. Practically everything is still there in its original state.  
 _It's been a long time since Michonne went to a supermarket. She slowly walked through the aisles, as if she was shopping like back in the days._

In the meantime, we see Daryl stocking up a lot of booze. Michonne side eyed him. "That's all?"  
"A man gotta drink." What you have?"  
"Some canned food, shampoo, magazines. Some delicious M&M's."  
Michonne handed some out to Daryl.  
"These taste like feet!", Daryl spit out and made an hilarious disgusted face.  
Michonne bursted into laughter, "You sir, you don't know what it is to have good taste."

Daryl then shows her this tiny paper he took out of his pocket. "So, Denise gave me this list. What the hell is an orange pineapple soda?", Daryl asked confusedly.  
Michonne laughs. "Follow me."

 _Michonne loves that about Daryl. She can always make jokes around him. Sometimes even mocking him and he doesn't seems to mind it._

Late afternoon. Michonne and Daryl are finally on their way home. They were midways, when their bike began to make weird noises and eventually stopped moving. After checking it out thoroughly, they noticed that the pipe underneath was broken, which was the reason for the fuel leakage.  
"Damnit!" Daryl said. Looks like we have to walk it out."

* * *

 **9.00 PM. Alexandria.**  
Meanwhile, most of the townies are at Spencer's party. Spencer just gave this beautiful speech and everybody is having a good time.  
Carol is holding Judith and tries to talk to as many people as possible. Carl and Ron are still not in talking terms but at least they are in the same room.  
Carl is standing in the corner with Glenn and Enid. Glenn just said something which made both Enid and Carl cracks up.  
Maggie, Sasha, Tara and Denise are talking. Abraham and Eugune aswell.

Rick finally has the chance to talk with Jessie. He was so busy that night, everybody wanted to talk with him.  
"Heeey.", Jessie said. Rick greeted her back with a kiss on her cheek.  
"You look nice. Are you enjoying the party?", she asked.  
"Yeah, yeah." he smiled. It's good to have one of those days. "You? How are you?".  
"I've been with Sam all day. I wanted to bring him with me tonight, but he's not ready yet. He's making progress, slowly."  
"But this party. It's great. It's good to be back to normal.", Jessie said.  
They were having a pleasant conversation when Rick slowly lost his focus. His eyes turns a lot to the clock on the wall and towards his watch.

 _Michonne and Daryl. They are late. Awfully late. Where are they? They should have been back by now._  
 _Maybe they are already home? Michonne did said she would come, right? Or did she forgot?_

 _Whatever Jessie was saying, Rick just nodded nicely and only hears parts of her sentences. He actually felt bad towards Jessie._

"Rick, I'm going to get a drink, what would you like?"  
"Rick...  
"Rick?", Jessie asked once more.  
Rick snapped out of his thoughts and without even knowing, Rick blurt out; "Michonne."

* * *

Daryl and Michonne are finally home. Tired and exhausted. That was a long walk. They stopped in front of Spencer's house.  
 _Michonne wasn't sure if she would go actually. First of all she was late and second, she was so tired and looked like a hot mess._  
 _But it's Spencer's first party as the town president. She must be there to support him. She actually became quite close to him after Deanna's death. She promised his mom to look out for him. And she will. She was thankful for Deanna for accepting her family. Especially after Ricks crazy outburst. She really was. Now she has to give back to the community._  
 _But first she'll have to fresh up a bit. No way, she can walk in like this._

"You sure, you're not going to the party?", Michonne asked. She really wanted Daryl to come with her.  
"Nah, you go. Parties ain't my thing. I don't like to mingle and stuff. Besides I have these new friends with me.", Daryl pointed at his bag with booze.  
"And thanks."  
"For what?", Michonne asked.  
"For today, it was fun. You'll be a great sidekick."  
"You wish!", Michonne jokingly pushed his shoulder softly.  
They both laugh and ended up staring at each other with a smile. There was this moment.  
 _  
_ _There they were. Standing by this lamp post at dim light. The sky was clear. There were no stars in sight. There's this soft music coming from Spencer's house. Not too loud ofcourse, they don't want another walker rampage. You would have think this was a scene from a movie with its background music. It was perfect for the moment. There's this little breeze, which messes up Daryl's hair and his hair occasionally gets in his eyes. Michonne stares right at Daryl. She just realized it's the second time today she'd been staring at Daryl. What's going on? Eventhough he looks all dirty, he does looks good. Especially when he smiles. Yes. With that wicked smile he's having now on his face. Well, there's not much to smile about in this world, but he should do it more often. And she did enjoyed their day together. They talked more then usual. They both opened up. They talked a lot during their long walk home. He makes her laugh, he makes her happy... He makes her...  
_

But suddenly, their moment got interrupted when the door opens. It's Rick...

* * *

 **Note: Woah, thanks all for the lovely feedback for my first ever written fanfiction. This story have been bugging on my mind for quite some time and I just had to write it out. And i** **t still feels so weird to share this story with you guys :)  
**

 **About this chapter. Seems like the Dixonne ship is sailing, you guys. Are you sailing? Or are you still team Rick? Well the next chapter will be about The Grimes 2.0, lots of Richonne scenes happening. Stay tuned and thanks for reading :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**The day after.  
**

Michonne is lying on her bed. She could barely sleep last night, eventhough she was extremely tired. She is still feeling tired now.

 _"What the hell was that, last night?", she wondered._ _"Me and Daryl? Daryl?"._  
 _The thought of what could have happen if Rick didn't showed up, keep repeating in her head._  
 _After Rick interrupted their moment, the three didn't talked much. Daryl quickly went home and Michonne decided to go home too, instead of the party._  
 _Rick went back to the party and didn't came home until late. Must have been a great party._

She rolls to the other side of her bed, trying to sleep for a bit. _It's not going to happen. These thoughts. She needs a shower to cool off. This is all too weird for her._

Michonne felt all refreshed after a long hot shower. She needed that.  
She cleans her room, when she noticed the comics.  
"Carl! Can you come here, please?", Michonne shouted.  
"What?", as Carl walked into her room.  
"Look what I've got you.", as Michonne handed him the comics.  
"Wow, thank you. It's been a while I've read any."  
He gives Michonne a quick hug. _  
_  
"No problem. You still like comics, right? Or are you in to other things now? Like girls..like Enid perhaps?", Michonne asked sneakily.  
"Nooo, we're just friends." Carl said.  
Carl then makes himself at ease and sits on her bed. He looks at the comics she just gave him.  
Michonne was looking at herself in the mirror as she adjusts her clothes and fixes her hair.  
They were talking and laughing. A lot of laughter.

"This is something I would love to hear every morning.", Rick said with a big smile as he walked into her room holding this white shirt in his hand.  
 _He's bare chest with only his jeans on. With his curly hair looking all fuzzy. His face unshaved. From the look on Michonne's face, its a sight she sees regularly. Nothing new. But she actually never checks him out, except for a few glances here and then.  
_

"Dad, look what Michonne got me.", Carl said. Rick joins him on the bed and puts his shirt on. They both look at the comics.  
"Yeah, I tried to find you something too." But the choices were very limited", she said.  
"Maybe you can get something nice from Daryl."  
"I heard he has a stack of alcohol. But don't say you heard it from me.", Michonne makes a whispering hand gesture.  
Rick and Carl smiles at Michonne.

They then hear Judith crying from her bedroom. "Looks like Judith is awake" , Michonne said, as she walks towards the door.  
"I'll go get her." Rick said.  
Michonne watches him leaving her room. _  
_

"Ok, Carl. I'm going. You staying here?", Michonne asked.  
"Where are you going?".  
"I'm going outside for a bit."  
"Can I come with you?", Carl asked.  
"Didn't you had plans with your dad today?"  
Carl looks at her with this begging face. _That please get me out of this face._ How can she ignores that face?  
"Alright, at least go tell him before you leave.", Michonne said.  
 _  
Nowadays, Carl went to Michonne a lot if he needed anything, even when Rick was around. Rick doesn't seems to mind it at all.  
If she approves, Rick will too. __He's always okay if Carl is with Michonne. Besides Carl loves being around Michonne.  
_

* * *

Michonne and Carl just got outside, when Heath walks right to them, looking all worried.  
"Heath. What's wrong?", Michonne asked.  
"I don't want to make a big deal about it and they're probably just fine..", Heath said.  
"Who?"  
"This morning, me, Rosita, Spencer and Bruce, we went outside for a run in the woods. I got tired so I came back first. But it's been hours now. They should have been back by now. I don't know why it took them so long."  
"Ok, Heath, meet me at the front gate in 5 minutes. I'll go get my stuff.", Michonne said.  
"Carl, you stay here."  
"I can go with you.", Carl said. "No, Carl."

Michonne is back at home getting her stuff as fast as she can.  
"Hey, everything allright?", Rick asked.  
"We're going to look for Rosita and Spencer, didn't came back since this morning."  
"Wait, I'm coming with you."

* * *

 **11.00 AM.**  
They were all gathering at the front gate where Glenn decided to go with them.  
"Ok, where to?", Rick asked.  
"I'll drive.", Heath said. They took the RV and they drove off.

Some hours later, they arrived at the place Heath and the others were been last.  
They were walking around the woods for some time when they hear several gun sounds. They quickly followed the sounds of it.

The sounds are coming from an old junkyard. After scouting the whole area, they spotted 4 men and 1 woman.  
"Wolves", Heath said. "And they are carrying our weapons too."  
They captured Spencer. He's tied up on a pole but he looks okay. No sight of Rosita and Bruce.  
The wolves were fighting off the walkers. There were quite a lot of walkers.

"There are only 5 of them, we can take them.", Rick said.  
But before they could even make a plan, Rick steps out the bushes and starts shooting around. He kills a few walkers on his way and managed to kill one of the wolves.  
"Damnit, Rick!". Michonne shouted.  
They all stepped out of the bushes and joins Rick. The wolves finally noticed them, since they started hiding and shooting back.  
There's a lot of shooting, back and forth and killing walkers in between.  
Rick was about to shoot a walker, when one wolf came behind Rick and tackled him to the ground. They were fighting and rolling on the ground. The wolf grabs his knife and stabs Rick right in his shoulder.  
"Rick!", Michonned screamed, as she heard him screaming in pain. She wanted to go help him badly. But there were so many walkers around her, that she couldn't go near him.  
Heath was also busy fighting off the walkers and trying his best to not get shot by the wolves.

As the wolf was distracted by a walker who was coming at him, Rick stabs the wolf in return and before Rick could finish him off, Glenn shoots the man.  
"T..Th...Thanks.", Rick said, as he was out of breath. Glenn grabs his hand and helps him get up. "Rick, are you okay? You got bitten? " Glenn asked worriedly as he looked at all the blood on Rick.  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Rick said, stabbed, beaten up in blood. Rick looks at his shoulder and covers his hand on his wound. _That's going to hurt for a while._  
"I'm fine. But we have a bigger problem. Walkers everywhere", Rick said as he looked around.  
All these shootings drew a lot more walkers to the place. Dozens of them.

The woman and the man managed to escape. Heath was about to go after them, when Michonne told him not to.  
"No, Heath, leave them. There's no time!", Michonne said. They quickly run to Spencer. Heath is helping Spencer, while Michonne is killing the walkers.  
"We have to go now! Fast!", Michonne shouted, as more walkers came up to them.  
"Rosita and Bruce are trapped in that room overthere. Lots of walkers. No weapons.", Spencer said.

The three runs to Glenn and Rick. Glenn was holding Rick as he has trouble to stand by himself.  
Michonne looks at Rick all worried. "Rick. You're hurt.".  
"A little stab wound, that's all.", Rick said calmly. Trying his best to not panic everybody.

"Alright, here's the plan.", Glenn said.  
"Heath, you go back to the car with Rick and Spencer. Michonne and I will go get Rosita and Bruce."  
"We will catch up with you guys.", Glenn said.  
Michonne and Rick glanced at each other. Rick nodded at her. They all agreed with one another and the group split up.

Spencer and Heath helped Rick getting back to the car. They were waiting in the RV when some time later, Michonne, Glenn and Rosita came back running.  
"Where's Bruce?", Rick asked as he looked around for Bruce.  
Rosita shakes her head. "He got bitten, he was already far too gone.", Rosita said in a shaking voice. Michonne comforts Rosita.  
They all took a moment, before they drove off.

"Let's go home.", Michonne said, while she sit next to Rick, watching carefully over him.

* * *

 **8.00 PM. Alexandria.**

Michonne and Rick are at the infirmary. Rick sits on this table with his shirt off. He was in a lot of pain, but he looked calm.  
"Michonne, can you hold this against the wound. Keep pressure on it.", Denise said.  
Denise went to another room to get more bandaging supplies. Leaving Rick and Michonne alone.

 _There she stood, alone with Rick in silence. She never been this close to him. This. This physical contact. The very first time she touched Rick skin. Her hands on his bare skin. She watches him closely. He looks awfull. Blood and bruises everywhere._ _He looks so pale, but his skin feels hot, extremely hot. She can f_ _eel the heat radiating off his _body.  
_ Rick was looking at the ground, trying his best to avoid her eyes.  
She then decided to break the silence...  
_  
"Rick, what you did today. It was stupid."  
Rick finally looked up to her. _  
_  
"You can't be this reckless. Not anymore. We all need you."  
"This community needs you. Carl, Judith..and... ". Michonne said.

After Rick let her words sunk in, he opened his mouth.

"I know, it's just... I want to protect our people. I don't want to lose anymore of us.  
And now, we lost one more today. I try my best to be a good leader.  
The people here are looking up to me. Especially after Deanna's death. They expect me to be there for them, to lead them. And I try.  
But sometimes I don't even know what I'm even doing anymore.", Rick said.

 _Michonne was kind of taken back at his words. She didn't knew he felt like this the whole time._

"You are not alone Rick. You don't have to be alone. Not in this."  
It's ok to ask for help sometimes. It's normal, it's human.  
And I'm here. I will be here. And like I've said it before...  
"I'm with you, Rick. All the time.", Michonne said.

 _Rick didn't answered back and avoided her eyes again. He just sat there, quietly. But he knew she was right. She was always right. When was there ever a time he disagrees with her? She was always there when he needed someone. Always by his side. Her words.."I'm with you", echoed in his mind.  
_

Michonne then takes a wet cloth and starts cleaning up the blood off his body, while Rick was holding his wound. Rick stares at her hands and follows her movements. She notices his stares at her.

"Is there a day you're not covered in blood?", Michonne said as she washes his chest.  
Rick looks at his own body and cracks a smile.  
"Does it hurt?", Michonne asked him.  
"Yeah."  
"Good.", Michonne slightly smiled at him.

 _There were so many emotions she felt at that moment. Worry, relieve, anger...But most of all it was fear._  
 _The fear of losing him. Rick. It's not something she wants to think about. Not now.  
_

In the meantime, Denise is already back in the room.  
"Alright, time for me to go.", Michonne said, as she looked over at Denise, who's at the back of the room preparing the bandages.  
"I'll let Denise handle this. I'm going to check on Judith." Michonne said.  
Rick looks at her and nodded.

 _Michonne grabs her stuff and leaves, when this hand grabbed her arm. Rick's hand. He was holding it gently, almost afraid of not hurting her. His hand felt warm too._ _Her body kind of shivered of the touch. Her heart skipped a beat. It felt weird. It felt good. Michonne turned back to Rick and looked him right in his blue eyes. Very confused. Rick gazed right back in her eyes.  
_  
"I'm sorry for worrying you." Rick said with an apologetic face.

 _Michonne grabs his hand softly and puts up a smile on her face.  
_

Michonne then leaves the infirmary. And as she just closed the door behind her, she bumps into Jessie, which startled her a bit.  
"Is Rick ok?", Jessie asked, looking all worried.  
"He's doing fine. Stab wound and bruises. Denise is patching him up now.", Michonne said.  
She notices the look on Jessie's face. Michonne smiles at Jessie, trying her best to comfort her. "He will be fine. Rick will be fine."  
"Thanks Michonne," Jessie said.  
 _  
She then watches Jessie walks into the infirmary and hear them talking. Not sure what they were talking about. She stood there for a moment, before she walks away._

* * *

As Michonne walks back home, passing by the houses, she sees her own reflection in the windows.  
 _She looks at herself and sighed. She's looking all dirty and messy again. If this is going to happen frequently, she will be out of clothes soon, she thought. She's already too tired to even take a shower. Too tired to talk._ _ _Too tired to think._ All she need now is sleep._

She then sees Daryl in the distance, who's on his way to check on Rick.  
 _The sight of seeing Daryl made her happy. Her mood lifted up._  
Daryl finally notices her and walks up to her. She gives him a bright smile. A genuine smile.

"Hey, I heard what happened today...".  
Daryl couldn't even finish his sentence, when Michonne went in for a hug.  
The hug surprised Daryl for a second but without any hesitation he quickly embraced her warmly. They just stood there hugging each other.

 _No words, no nothing. Just there._  
 _This hug. That's what I needed at the moment...right now...  
_

* * *

 **Note: Hope you liked this chapter. A little action, a little angst. So what do you guys think of the hug? Was the hug about Rick or was the hug meant for Daryl? See you in the next chapter. Thanks for reading :)  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Continuation of last chapter.**

There they were. Hugging for quite some time.  
"What is this?", Daryl asked.  
"Nothing, I'm just glad to see you.", Michonne said.  
She briefly smiles at him.  
"Thanks.", and just like that, Michonne walked away.  
Daryl stood there a little bit confused. Was she okay?

 **Next day.**

Michonne is lying on her bed, slowly opening her eyes. She then quickly wakes up when there is this horrible stench in her room. She looks at herself and realizes it's her that smells horrible. Last night when she came home, she went straight to bed without cleaning up. She was that tired.  
She looks at her alarm clock. 11 AM? What the.. She slept all through the night?  
Michonne was knocked out for the whole night. She didn't even heard her alarm going off this morning at 6 AM.  
She kind of feels bad about herself. She never was this off guard.

These past 2 days were weird. Very weird and exhausting. She didn't even had the time to think. To clear her head.  
She needed normal at the moment. Ha, normal, that sounded good.

She quickly does a few sit ups on her bed before she gets out her bed. Today, it's all about normal, she thought.  
After being all ready for the day, she goes to Rick's bedroom to check on him. The room is empty, quiet, the bed is made up.  
She looks out of the window. It's a bright sunny day with clear blue skies.  
 _Where did Rick go? He should be resting. He really looked awfull last night._

Michonne goes downstairs, when she sees Carl at the diner table reading a book.  
"Michonne, you are up!", Carl looked up to her. From the look on his face, he was really glad to see her.  
"You were so out last night, your alarm was buzzing for some time, before I had to come and set it off.", Carl said with a grin.  
"Really? I'm sorry.", Michonne said.  
"It's ok. I'm glad you're fine."  
"Wait, you stayed home, because of me?", Michonne said looking all touched.  
Michonne hugs Carl. "Thanks, kid."

* * *

A little later, Michonne drops by Maggie, who's at the ammo storage.  
"Hey, haven't seen you around lately.", Maggie said.  
"Tell me about it. I'm so out of it the last few days." Michonne said.  
"Are you ok?"  
"I'm fine, don't worry about me. It's nothing. I came here to ask how you are doing."  
"How is the pregnancy going?", Michonne asked.  
"Oh, me? I'm fine. I think. I don't feel any different. I guess it's still too early."  
"You scared?", Michonne asked.  
"At first I was, but as time goes by, not anymore.", Maggie said.

"I'm sure everything will work out well.  
Besides, don't you think its pretty exciting to have a little baby Glenn or baby Maggie walking around soon?  
Have you thought of any names yet?". Michonne asked.

"Didn't had the time to think about it yet.", Maggie said with a smile on her face.  
"Any suggestions?"  
Michonne laughs.  
"Well, if you need any help or have any questions about the pregnancy, you know where to find me.", Michonne said.  
Michonne goes over to hug Maggie.  
"I know..thank you.", Maggie said.  
"And if you ever need someone to talk. I'm here too, Michonne.", Maggie said softly.

 _Besides Carl, Maggie is the only one who knows about her son Andre. Michonne really loves Maggie. She's her best friend. She was the very first friend she made at the prison. Maggie also teached her how to ride a horse that time. I_ _ _n the beginning_ she was so scared of that horse , but it turned out well. And then she got to meet sweet Beth too. Beth was so young, but she had so much knowledge for her age. She loved the little chats she had with Beth at the prison. Eventhough Michonne was alone a lot at the prison, Beth frequently stopped by her cell to check on her. Michonne really wished she could talk to her one more time or see her alive after the prison fell._  
 _And Michonne liked Hershell too. She had so much respect for him, he was a good man. In fact, she liked the whole Greene family. They were all great people. And she's been thankfull to them ever since. Hershel raised his daughters very well. She's pretty sure Maggie will be a good mother too and continue on doing so. Even in this hell of a world.  
_

"So, what you got for me today?", Michonne asked Maggie.  
"Nothing at the moment. But I've been counting the weapons and the bullets.  
At this rate we will be out of bullets soon. I think we need go looking for more ammo."

"I'm on it. We can go tomorrow, early in the morning. I'll ask around for those who wants to go. Take care, Maggie!"  
Michonne walks away, when she turns back to Maggie.  
"Maggie?"  
"Yeah?"

"If it's a boy, how about Hershel?"

 _After Michonne got outside, she thought to herself, so this is how a normal day would start, huh? She smiles at herself.  
_

* * *

After Michonne made her rounds in Alexandria and seeing how everybody was doing, she decided to go check on Daryl.  
She haven't seen him yet. But there are only 2 places could be, he's either outside the walls or at Aaron's garage.  
She goes to Aaron's garage, when she hears some old unknown music coming from it. Yes, pretty sure Daryl is there.

She enters the garage.  
"Daryl."  
"And.. Rick?".  
Michonne stood there at the garage door. They were all staring at each other.  
"Michonne.", Daryl said back after a long staring moment.

"Rick?", what are you doing here? You should be resting!", as she looked over at him.  
Rick is sitting on this old couch in the corner, while Daryl was busy fixing his bike.  
"I'm resting here... and I needed some fresh air.", Rick said jokingly.  
"In here?", Michonne looked at him weirdly.  
"How are you feeling today? Still in pain?", she asked him.  
"It could be better", he smiled back at her.  
"Well, you do look a lot better today."  
She walks to Rick and checks his wound. "Denise patched you up good.", she said.

"Hey, somethin up?", Daryl asked Michonne.  
"No, just dropping by. How's your bike doing?", she asked.  
"Damn thing is almost fixed, finally."  
"Need some help?'.  
"If you want to. This guy there isn't any help.", Daryl said as he looked at Rick jokingly.  
Rick looks back at Daryl with a grinning face.  
Michonne starts to assist Daryl with his bike fixing. They were making jokes and being very comfortable around each other.

 _Rick watches them. Since when did they became so close? As he wonders. His 2 best friends._

"Alright, I'm going.", Michonne said.  
Daryl looks at Michonne and he whipes off these oil smears she has on her cheek. She got a little flusterred.  
"You got a little somethin.", he said.  
"Oh, thanks.", she smiled a bit shyly.  
"Bye, Rick", she looked at Rick. "Don't stay here too long. And you need to go home and rest. And I mean for real.", as she ordered him.

"Michonne.", Daryl called her.  
"Yeah?",  
"You good?"  
"Yeah." Michonne nodded. She leaves the garage.

"Since when are you and Michonne so close?", Rick asked surprisingly.  
"I don't know. It just happened". Being out there and all."  
"By the way, everything ok with Michonne?', Daryl asked Rick.  
"I guess so, not that I don't know off.", Rick said.  
"Isn't she?".  
"Nah, it's nothing.", and he continued to work on his bike. For a moment he thought about the hug yesterday. But he decides to leave it as it was.

* * *

Michonne then stops by Glenn, Morgan, Tobin and Father Gabriel who are busy building the town church. The church is making progress. It's slowly getting back to its old state, or maybe even better.  
She actually doesn't know much about building or fixing things. She didn't even knew what she was doing earlier with Daryl too.  
But instead of being useless, she wants to try to help out as much as she can.  
Michonne is helping Glenn out, while he is placing the screws in the planks. When a moment later, Father Gabriel collapsed on the ground.  
"Father Gabriel!", the group all shouted at the same time. The group rushes to Father Gabriel, when he slowly gets up again.  
"I just got a little dizzy, that's all. Must be the heat."  
"Should we go get Denise?". No, it's okay.".  
It really is hot today. It's been a while it's been this hot. Most of the townies are also outside enjoying the sun.  
"Let's take a little break". Morgan said.

They are having a little break together. The group are chatting while eating some snacks with several beverages.  
"This is really nice.", Glenn said with this cold beer in his hand.  
The group sees Rick and Jessie talking in the distance and the two ended up kissing each other. The first time they are openly kissing each other with other people in sight.  
"So, I guess, they are official now.", Glenn said.  
"Rick and Jessie? Since when?", Tobin asked.  
They all look at Michonne at the same time.  
Michonne feels the stares from all the men at her. She decides to ignore them.  
"But didn't her husband just died?", Tobin continued.  
"Yeah."  
They all look at Michonne again. Don't think she can avoid them again this time.

"Porch dick had it coming. He killed Deanna's husband, remember? But I don't know much about Rick and Jessie any more than you guys. It just happened. They started seeing each other some time already. Besides Jessie is a nice person. They like each other and are happy together.  
And it's been awhile seeing Rick like this. So, why not?", Michonne said.  
They all continues to stare at Michonne.  
She then rolls her eyes at all of them. "Seriously guys?", she said.

"Alright guys, my shift is going to start soon, I'll make a quick round. Take care!", as Michonne said. She softly puts her hand on Glenn shoulder.  
Glenn smiles back at her.  
When Daryl walks to them with his bike next to him. And from the look of it, the bike seems to be fixed.  
"Hey guys."  
"Michonne.", Daryl said.  
"Yeah.".  
"Wanna go for a ride?"  
"Yeah!".

"Where you wanna go?", Daryl asked her. "Anywhere is fine."  
And they drove off.

* * *

 **Late in the evening.**

Daryl and Michonne got back from their drive. They decided to walk the last couple of miles.  
"Daryl, for a moment I thought this bike was going to give up again.  
I swear, if we were going to have to walk back like last time, you better carry me.", she said.  
Daryl laughed.

"So Rick and Jessie huh?". I saw them at the infirmary yesterday."  
"They're together now?"  
"Yes."  
Michonne decided to change the topic.  
"That town we just saw. It's pretty big. And it looked quite dangerous too. We need a big group to check it out tomorrow. We can leave in the morning.  
You coming?, Michonne asked.  
"Hell yeah."

"By the way, Aaron and Eric asked me to join them for dinner tomorrow.  
You wanna come?", Daryl asked kind of shyly, while he stared at Michonne.  
Michonne looks back at him. "I would love to."

They arrives back at Alexandria. They stop at the front gate where Sasha and Tara are guarding.  
"Looks who's back.".  
"Thanks for covering my shift, Sasha.", Michonne said.  
"Anytime. Anything up?", Sasha asked.  
"We went to check out this town. It's big. We need to recruit people to clear that town tomorrow.  
"We're in.", Tara said.  
The four ended up talking at the front gate.

* * *

Rick is on his way home, when he sees the four of them at the gate. He's about to walk to them when Carol approaches him.  
"Hey Carol."  
"They look happy." Carol said.  
"They do.".  
"No, I mean Michonne and Daryl.", she said.  
Rick looks at her with this suprised look on his face but he actually kind of knew what she just said.

"They've been together a lot lately. And I wouldn't be surprised if they are already seeing each other." Carol said.  
"What, Michonne and Daryl?", Rick asked.  
Carol paused for a bit.

"Rick, I've seen you with Jessie today. Well, the whole town did, quite frankly. What's going on with you two? Don't you think it's too soon to be together? You hooking up with a woman, whos husband just died.  
"It's not a hookup. I do care about her.", Rick said.  
Carol continues to talk.  
"I know that Pete was an awful person, but Jessie did loved him once, they had their happier times. For christ sakes Rick, did she even got time to mourn over him?"  
 _Rick didn't answered back. He actually was quite shocked at how direct her words were._  
"Sorry, it's none of my business. But before you and Jessie are going to get serious, can I give you a little advice? And I really I need to say this, as a friend."

 _Rick looks at Carol and nodded silently._

"It's about Jessie and Michonne. Because I care about them too and I don't want either of them to get hurt in the end.  
Well, Michonne..she can't be by your side forever, you know."  
And now it seems right for Michonne to find her own happiness too. To find something or someone for herself in this place or maybe somewhere else in the future.  
And to be honest, I believe Daryl can give her that, right now.  
I know Daryl and I've seen him lately, Rick... He's changed.  
I know you and Michonne has some kind of close relationship.  
But now, it's up to you, what you want to do about it."

As Carol walks away she decided to give him some last words.  
"You can't have both Jessie and Michonne by your side. That's not how it works."

 _Carol words hit him hard that moment. Rick never thought it that way, since he's been here in Alexandria. Was he really being selfish this whole time?_  
 _Rick then looks back at Daryl and Michonne. But he ended up staring at Michonne only._  
 _  
They are his family. His friends. He loves them both. He sees Daryl as his brother. And Michonne? She's been a great mother figure for his children. She's been by his side all these times. She has seen him at his best and worst times.  
_

 _He thought back at their conversation yesterday. Didn't she said she will stay with him, that he could always count on her, no matter what? He likes Jessie... a lot, no doubt. But he also likes what he's having with Michonne, this relationship with her, this weird thing that's going on between them, which is hard to describe._ _ _But he actually never thought about anything else than Michonne being Michonne. Well, actually he did thought about it once. But he was_ afraid to look more into it, because if he messed things up, he will lose her._

 _But now, is it time to think about it all over again...or.._  
 _Is it time for me to let her go?_

* * *

 **Note: Ha, I had to write this whole Pete thing, cause it didn't made any sense on the show. LOL.  
But anyways, back to the ending of this chapter. I just want to say that Rick, he better comes to his senses soon or Michonne will find love with Daryl. If so, do you think Rick will be in time? See you in the next chapter and thanks for reading as always :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Next morning. 6 AM.**

6 AM. Michonne's clocks goes off.  
That's her waking up time. Even if she's having a day off, she wakes up at that time. Michonne is an early riser.  
Today, they are going to check out that town to look for more supplies. Ammo as their priority. She kind of looks forward to it. She's feeling very refreshed after sleeping so well and after having a normal day yesterday. She needs a good exercise and going out was perfect.  
Michonne gets out of her bed and looks out of her bedroom window. The weather is gloomy and rainy.  
"Shit. It's raining.", she said to herself. Guess they'll have to cancel the plan for today.  
She dresses up fast and goes to meet up with the group.

Daryl, Michonne, Sasha, Tara, and Spencer are slowly gathering at the front gate one by one. Daryl was the first one there.  
"Morning guys, so, what are we going to do?", Sasha asked.  
"Guess we have to cancel our family trip for today.", Daryl said.  
"It's too dangerous to go out there with this weather. Don't wanna take any risks."  
"It's so weird how the weather can change so fast.", Tara said.  
"Yeah. We can try again tomorrow. Y'all in?"  
They all agree with each other, when they see Abraham walking to them. Everyone in the group starts to laugh..  
"Sasha, he's for you.", Michonne said with a smile on her face.

The group all split up and go their separate ways. Only Daryl and Michonne are left.  
"I'll think I go drive around for a bit.", Daryl said.  
"Ok, stay safe. Be back soon?", Michonne said.  
"Will be." And Daryl left on his bike. Michonne watches him leave and she closes the gate.

 **1PM.  
**

Since it's raining, there isn't much to do in Alexandria. Most of the townies are at home, except for those that are on watch. Two at the front and one at the other side of Alexandria. Morgan and Father Gabriel were seen outside building the church. Besides those, the town is very quiet. Almost peaceful.

Michonne ordered Rick to stay home today, or at least try to rest. Yesterday, he walked so much around, that it wore him off.  
 _That's what happens if he doesn't listen to her.  
_  
Rick invited Jessie's family to come over. Only Jessie and Sam came, Ron decided to stay home.  
Rick and Jessie are sitting next to each other on the couch, with Judith on Rick's lap as he plays with her little feet.  
Michonne joined Rick and Jessie for a bit, but they soon got out of topics to talk. There were times when the 3 of them were very awkward around each other. And today, happens to be one of those times.  
She likes Jessie, but sometimes she's just so different than her. Michonne then decided to let Rick and Jessie have some alone time.

She goes over to Carl and Sam, who are sitting at the diner table.  
Sam is reading one of Carl's comics. Michonne and Carl having some bonding time.  
Sometime in between, Judith starts crying and Michonne goes over to take her from Rick.  
"Come, I'll take care of her. You shouldn't carry her so long.", Michonne said, as she looked over at his shoulder.  
Rick nodded in agreement and carefully gives Judith to Michonne, who's very happy to see her.

Michonne walks back to Carl with Judith in her arms.  
"So where were we?", she asked. "Favorite color?"  
"Green."  
"Uhmm, mine is purple.", Michonne said.  
"Favorite food?", Carl turn this time.  
"I'll go with pizza. Because, I'm really craving for some pizza now.", Michonne sighed. Carl laughs at her.  
"We should try to make it some day."  
"Favorite city?"  
"I guess, I'll have to say King County in Georgia where we lived. We never travelled a lot. Mom and dad were too busy. I wished we did.", Carl said.  
"Mine is New York. I just loved that city, the people, the food, the culture. I wonder what it would look like now."  
"Probably the same as it was in Atlanta."  
"What about your favorite animal?", Michonne asked.  
"I love dogs.", Carl said.  
"No way, cats are better!"  
Judith started giggling very loudly when Michonne said that.  
"See, Judith is a cats person too!", Michonne said. She looks at Judith's cute little face. Michonne then starts cuddling and giving little kisses to Judith.  
Michonne and Carl suddenly burst into loud laughter for several minutes.

 _Michonne looks at Carl. It's been a while she saw him laughing like this, since the herd attack, since he got shot in the eye. He had a rough couple of days, or perhaps weeks after that. She was afraid he couldn't handle it, but surprisinly he's been holding it up very well. And he's been very optimistic, which suprised her even more. He really is an amazing kid.  
_

Rick and Jessie hear them laughing and they both look at them. Rick face lifted up at the sight of his kids with Michonne. Them being taking care off and being loved.  
"She is so good with your kids.", Jessie said.  
"Yeah, yes she is.", Rick smiled. "They adore her so much. Carl loves her a lot."

Carl and Michonne are still laughing when there's a knock on the door. Michonne looks at the clock.  
"Oh, it's for me. It's Abraham. Time goes by so fast when I'm having this much fun." Michonne said all smiley to Carl.  
"Alright, time for me to take over the watch."  
"In this weather?", Carl asked kind of sadly.  
"Yeah, somebody has to, Carl. Gotta keep this place safe.", she winked at him.  
Meanwhile Rick opened the door and Abraham was waiting for Michonne at the door.  
Michonne hands Judith over to Carl and she kisses him softly on his forehead.  
"Got to go guys!", Michonne said.  
She then looks over at Jessie who's still sitting on the couch. "Bye Jessie and please take care of Rick!". As she rolled her eyes at Rick.  
"Lets go Abraham."

* * *

 **6 PM.**

After getting back from her shift. Michonne is getting ready for the dinner with Daryl.  
Michonne is standing in front of her mirror. She tried several outfits, before she ends up with a black leather jeans and a white blouse which has those fringes on her sleeves.  
She also has some dresses in her wardrobe. Well only two to be exact. Dresses isn't her thing anymore, not in this apocalyptic world.  
 _She has to be always on guard, always on alert. The thought of her killing walkers in a dress and high heels? That's a funny sight. She starts laughing at herself._

She was so in her own world that she didn't knew Rick came in her room.  
"Anything you'd like to share?", Rick asked her. Rick startled her for a bit.  
"Sorry, I knocked on your door, thought you heard me.", he said.  
"Oh, it's fine..something about dresses and heels. Don't think you guys care about those.", Michonne said, laughing.  
Rick looks at her, seeing her all dressed up.  
"You going somewhere?", he asked.  
"Yes, going to have diner with Aaron, Eric and Daryl."  
"Daryl asked me to go with him.". Michonne said.  
"Oh right, Daryl.."

Rick just stood there watching her, when Michonne felt his stare on her.

"Is something up?", Michonne asked, while she's on the bed putting on her boots.  
"Well, you and Daryl." He paused.  
"I'm ok with you and Daryl seeing each other.", he said, calmly.  
 _Michonne looks at him in utter disbelief. Did he just said that? Seriously?_

"Rick? What? Where did that came from?", she said with a surprised face.  
"I don't know, you guys seems pretty close lately. So, I guess it makes sense if you start having feelings for each other or anything else...",  
"Seriously Rick? Seriously?", Michonne said while she raised her voice this time. She stands up and looks directly at Rick.  
"First of all, I don't think my relationship with Daryl is any of your concern. Second, I don't need your approval for liking somebody."  
"Ugh, Rick, I can't even look at you right now. I need some fresh air. I got to go."

She quickly grabs her stuff and goes downstairs. Rick follows her quickly.  
"Michonne..talk to me! Where are you going? It's raining outside.", Rick said.  
"Even better!", Michonne said, angrily, not looking at him as she stormed out of the house.

Rick just stood there. What just happened? Why was she so angry? He looks around, when he sees Carl sitting on the couch, staring at him. He was there the whole time, heard and saw everything. Carl looks at Rick with a very disapproval look on his face. Rick looks back at Carl, not knowing what to do, lost for words.  
"Well, what are you still doing here? Go after her.", Carl said.

 _Michonne is outside just walking around, she doesn't even know where she's walking to, she just needed to walk. She actually wonders why she was that mad at Rick. It's not like it was that big of a deal. Especially with everything and everyone that is going around here. She likes Daryl, but she wasn't sure what to do about it yet. All these feelings were all too suddenly, since she came here to Alexandria. That's why she needed time to think about it. And now, Rick ruined it or maybe he did not. Maybe, she needed that extra push. And maybe, she was a bit too harsh and overreacted._

Michonne is already at the end of the street, when Rick finally catches up to her. It took him a while, since his wound was still hurting and slowed him down.  
He grabs her arm and she got startled again.  
"Rick, what the hell are you doing here? You shouldn't be outside like this!". She looks at him worried, but still mad.  
 _  
Rick was exhausted and took a little breath.  
_  
"Sorry Michonne. I'm sorry. I really don't know what it was about and why you are so mad at me...and", he said in a trembling voice, still holding her arm.

 _Rick looks at her. They are both completely drenched in rain. Michonne more than him._ _Her hair all messed up, her clothes all soaked. He looks her up and down. He then carefully looks at her face. Her angry but worried face. And a glimpse of sadness._  
 _He sees it. He sees it clearly. That face, that face he rarely see. He can't even remember the last time he saw her angry face. He never wants to make her feel like this anymore. No more anger and sadness. He wants her to be happy, he wants to see her smiling. Always. Carol was right. Maybe, Daryl is indeed right for her. He needs to let her go..._  
When he slowly pulls Michonne towards him and presses him lips on hers. _Or maybe not yet..._

The kiss surprised Michonne as it did to Rick. She took a step back. "Rick.", she said with a surprised and shocked look on her face.  
 _She looks him straight in to his blue eyes as he stares back. He looks afraid, afraid that she's going to be mad at him again of what he just did. Afraid, that he just ruined their whole relationship. Afraid that things will never go back to as it was before. Afraid that he just messed things up again. Michonne's heart is racing like crazy, all these feelings she's feeling now. All these emotions just wrapped in this little kiss. She needs to know what this means, she needs to... As she leans in and starts kissing him back.  
_  
 _There they were standing, kissing each other passionatly. The rain pooring hard, which they both didn't cared about at that moment. Rick was cupping her face and kissing her gently, while Michonne was playing with his curly hair. Rick slowly circles his hands around her waist, as her hands grabs his neck, carefully trying not to hurt him. The sound of kissing and beating hearts._  
The kiss didn't even lasted more than a minute, when Michonne stops the kissing. This. It was all too real.  
She looks at Rick again, who's also confused as she is, but has a little smile on his face.

"Rick, I'm sorry, I...I...have to go.", she said softly. She quickly walks away. Leaving Rick there alone.

* * *

Michonne arrives at Aaron's house. The rain has finally stopped. She stands in front of the door, when she's about to knock on the door, Eric opens the door.  
"Hey, you're here.", Eric said.  
"Sorry, I'm late.". She enters the house and greets Aaron and Daryl, who are in the kitchen.  
"Can I use the bathroom for a second?". "Yes, upstairs, on the right."

She looks at herself in the mirror. She grabs a towel to dry off her clothes and her face.  
 _What just happened? Her heart was still beating like crazy. Rick, you stupid fool. Why did he kissed her and why did she kissed him back? But it felt so right at that moment. Whatever it was, now it's not the time to think about Rick..or the kiss. That steamy kiss. She came here to enjoy the dinner. She came here for Daryl.  
_

After she done freshing up, Michonne joins the three of them at dinner. She's surprised at the amount of food on the table and how much effort Aaron and Eric put in to it. It was a joyful evening. There was lots of laughter and everyone had a good time. Even Daryl cracked up a few smiles.  
Seeing Daryl this comfortable around other people. It was nice. She didn't even think about Rick. Not even once. _  
_

Later the night, Daryl and Michonne said goodbye to Aaron and Eric and they walk back home.  
"Oh my god, I didn't knew Eric was so talkative." Michonne said.  
Daryl laughs. "Yeah, he caught me by surprise too, when I first met him. Guy couldn't shut his mouth.".  
They both laugh at the thought of Aaron and Eric, since they are the opposite of Daryl and Michonne, who are quiet people and likes to listen more.  
"I do find it funny how much you have in common with Aaron.", Michonne said jokingly.  
"Ha, me too."

They arrive back at Michonne's home. They stop at the porch to say goodbye.  
"It was fun.", Michonne said.  
"Yeah, me too."  
"Maybe we should do it some other time again, maybe only the 2 of us.", Daryl said shyly, his face all blushing. Michonne noticed it.

 _Daryl smiles at her. That wicked smile he has on his face, that smile Michonne likes so much. After what happened lately and especially today, she finally decided to stop taking any more breaks. She needs to face her feelings and stop hiding behind them. No more excuses. And at that moment as she looks at Daryl, she realizes...she likes Daryl. Daryl stood there in silence, waiting for her answer...She's about to say yes, when she answers...  
_

"I kissed Rick today."  
"Oh."

* * *

 **Note: And so it begins...the start of the love triangle. Who's ready? Michonne realized her true feelings for Daryl, but does she has that for Rick too?  
See you at the next chapter, and as always thanks for reading :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Continuation of the previous chapter.**

They are standing at the porch.

Daryl didn't know how to react or even what to say, to what Michonne just said. That she kissed Rick.  
The only thing that came out his mouth was; "I'll see you tomorrow?"  
Michonne nodded. Michonne goes in to her house, and Daryl goes back to his home.

 **Next morning. 7 AM.**  
As expected, the weather has turned around nicely from yesterday. The group all gather at the gate again.  
They decided to go with 2 cars. Daryl and Abraham are checking out the cars thoroughly, in case something happens underway.  
The girls are preparing the food and weapons. It's going to be a long drive. But they all are fit and ready to go.  
Glenn and Maggie are at the gate, sending them off.

Upon arrival, they park their cars a few miles from the town and continue on foot, like they always do.  
Daryl and Abraham are walking in front. Spencer and Tara are closely behind them and Michonne and Sasha at the back.

"Sasha. Can I talk to you for a second?", Michonne said.  
"Yeah, what's up?"  
"Rick and I kissed together.", Michonne blurted out.  
"What? How?", Sasha reacted all surprised. Well maybe not that all surprised, as she was little too loud and a little too excited, when she saw Michonne's gesture to quiet it down.  
The group all glanced at them before they continue to walk, after Sasha said it was nothing.

"I thought Rick and Jessie are together?", Sasha said, as she lowered her voice this time.  
"They still are, I don't even know what happened.",  
"We just started kissing each other.", Michonne said.  
"When did it happened?"  
"Just last night."  
"Did you felt something?"  
"I thought I did, I'm not sure."  
"Have you seen Rick yet after it happened?". Michonne nodded quietly.  
"Ugh, why did I kissed him back? It's all too complicated now.", Michonne said as she looked over at Daryl.  
"Why?"  
"Oh, nothing."  
"Well, you need to talk to Rick, that's the only way you'll find out."  
"How did you and Abraham got together?"  
"He came to my house and confessed to me and deep down I knew there was something."  
"But, how did you know?", Michonne asked.  
"Well, you just know.", Sasha said, as she looked over at Abraham this time.  
"I wish, I don't have to. Isn't there another way? Ughh.', Michonne sighed, nodding.  
"How can you not? You guys do live in the same house."  
"You'll figure it out." Sasha smiles happily at Michonne and puts her arms around her shoulders as they continue to walk. Michonne smiles for the first time today.

 _Michonne then looks over at Daryl once again, this time_ _ _with_ curiosity. She hasn't had a chance to talk to with him, other than talking about this supply run or with the group._  
 _She couldn't figure out what he's thinking. But he doesn't look any different than yesterday or any other day..she hopes._

 **1 PM.**  
They arrive at the town. The town is huge and only a few walkers are seen roaming around.  
"What y'all say? We split up in 3 groups and meet each other back in an hour?", Daryl said.  
"Ammo is our first priority, others come later. See what y'all can get."  
"Always stay alert, those suckers might be in those buildings. Let's go." as he leads the group.

 _Time has changed for Daryl. He used to stay in the back and did what he was told to do. But now, when it's time to lead, he will lead. And he's pretty good at it._

Tara went with Daryl. Sasha with Abraham. Spencer with Michonne. They have been walking in and out of buildings, scavenging for items they could use.  
They haven't got any luck yet with weapons, other than a few knives and sticks that could defend themselves.

Spencer and Michonne goes to the town mall. They separately walk through the mall, when they hear a soft thud sound.  
Michonne and Spencer immediately turns back to each other. "Sssh.", Michonne gestered to Spencer.  
They slowly walk to the room where the sound came from. Michonne stands ready with her katana, while Spencer reaches his hand out to the doorknob, about to open the door, when the door swings open.  
To their surprise, Sasha walks out the room.  
"You guys, it's me!"  
"Oh my god! Sasha, you scared the hell out of me." Spencer said with a shaking voice.  
"You think I'm gonna pass on this mall?", Sasha said.  
"Where is Abraham?"  
"Upstairs, I believe."  
Sasha shows them what she found already. Spencer rolled his eyes. All he could see was girls stuff.  
They all laugh when they hear a loud noise, really loud.  
"What the hell was that?, Spencer said.  
"It's coming from outside."  
The 3 run outside as quickly as possible, where Abraham was waiting for them. He points at the office building.  
"Daryl and Tara."  
"Shit, lets go!".

They run to the building. When they enter the building, they see a huge hole in the floor.  
"Oh my god.", Sasha said.  
They run to the floor hole and look down. They see Tara and Daryl lying on the ground.  
The 2 felt down and landed in to the parking lot underneath the building.  
"You guys alright?", Abraham asked worriedly.  
Daryl and Tara both slowly gets up as they brushes of the dust from their clothes.  
"Yeah..yeah, we are. I think so." Daryl said back, as he looked at Tara. "I'm fine too.", Tara said.  
"You better be! Run, walkers, 2 o'clock!", Abraham shouted at them.  
Daryl quickly grabs his crossbow and Tara her gun and they starts killing the walkers. The others are shooting from above. There were actually quite a lot of walkers.  
After they cleared the whole parking lot, Spencer found a robe to get them back up.  
"Wait", Daryl said.  
"Lets collect some fuel first."

"You guys, sure are okay?", Michonne asked once again.  
"How is it possible that the floor just caved in?".  
"It's weird indeed. And where did those walkes came from? There were a lot. There must be something here." Daryl said as he looked around.  
They all went through the building carefully, when they hear a piercing shriek, laughter coming from Abraham.  
The group quickly goes over to Abraham.  
"Jackpot! Today is a lucky day!" Abraham said loudly.  
It was a small room, more like a closet storage. Hidden behind an office room. The room was full of weapons. Someone must have been hiding here before, setting up the traps.  
They all celebrated the moment before cleaning out the whole room.  
"Let's get these pretty munchkins home." Abraham said, laughing continuously.

They went to a few more buildings before they headed back to their cars.

* * *

They are walking back to their cars. A much better mood then they were this morning. Lots of fuel and weapons. It would have been more of a lucky day if they found food too. But they are already happy they found more stuff then they expected.

When walking, Daryl starting to limp, which Michonne notices him. She quickly goes over to help him.  
"Daryl, is your leg hurting?", she asked.  
"A little pain in my leg, that's all. Must have been that fall." Michonne looked at his leg.  
Because of his leg, they got slowed down as the others are a bit ahead of them. They walk quietly.

"Daryl, can we talk about yesterday?", Michonne asked.  
"Hey, you know, you and Rick, I'd like to stay out of it. I don't want to get involved in it. Whatever you two has together."  
"It's not. There's nothing between me and Rick, I think.", she said.  
"Well, I'll let you handle it. Whatever it was. And if not, I'll be here for you.", Daryl said softly with a little smile on his face.

 _Michonne was always amazed at his words. Eventhough he is a man of few words, but his words always affected her. That's who he is.  
_

The group finally got back to their cars and they went back home.

* * *

 **9 PM. Alexandria.**  
Maggie and Glenn were waiting for them at the gate again. Everyone is happy when they hear the good news. Abraham is telling the story proudly as if he was the one who found it. If it wasn't for Daryl and Tara, they would't have found it at all.  
Maggie insists that Tara and Daryl goes to Denise for a check up. So Maggie walks with them to the infirmary, while asking how their trip went.

Meanwhile, Michonne and Sasha are busy unloading their cars.  
"What a day." Sasha laughs.  
"So, you gonna talk to Rick soon?"  
"Yeah, tonight."  
"Wish me luck?"  
"You don't need luck. Just tell him how you feel."

 _Feel? Feel? That's easy for Sasha to say, she thought. Michonne doesn't know what to expect. Or how she's going to start the conversation. She haven't even seen him in almost a day.  
_  
After Michonne helped Glenn sorting the weapons in the ammo room, she finally goes home. From the look of it, Rick is probably waiting for her as there is light coming from the living room.  
Michonne is almost home, when she goes to Daryl's house first.

Daryl is busy unpacking his stuff in his living room.  
"Hey. How was it at Denise?"  
"Just a little sprained ankle, will be probably over tomorrow. I hope."  
"Good!", as she let out a soft sigh.

 _Michonne was already worried about 1 man. And at the moment, she doesn't want to worry about 2 men she deeply cares about. Not now. She was slightly relieved.  
_

"Hey, I got you something.", as Michonne pulled something out of her bag.  
It's a brown checkered poncho with black and red stripes on it. Which she found it in the mall earlier.  
"Where you get that from?", Daryl looked up at her.  
"I thought you might want a new one, since Maggie stole your old one. Wasn't it a blanket or something?", Michonne said smilingly.  
She goes over to Daryl to put it on him. As she put it above his head, Daryl leans in and kisses her lightly on her cheek.  
"Thank you." he said.  
"You're welcome. It looks good on you.", she smiles as she checks him out.

* * *

Michonne goes home, and yes, Rick was indeed waiting for her. Rick is lying on the couch in the living room, half asleep, when he hears the door.  
"Hey", Rick said.  
"Hey yourself. How are you feeling?"  
"Been home this whole time, I slept all day. Tired."  
Michonne feels sorry for Rick. She was the reason he went outside for her, in the rain. He must been feeling worse than he was yesterday. She wanted to check on him last night, but she felt weird after what happened.  
She walks over to Rick as Rick slowly gets up to sit, to make space for her on the couch..  
"Wait, you don't have to.", Michonne said. But Rick wanted to.  
She touches his forehead to check his temperature. Nothing unusual.  
"How was your day? Everything went well?" he asked.  
"Good..you should hear Abraham's story tomorrow.", Michonne let out a soft laugh.  
"Carl and Judith?"  
"Good, Carl been taking care of Judith. Told me to rest."

There was this awkward moment and a very long silence. They are looking at everything in the room besides at each other.  
"So"  
"So..."  
"About yester.." as they both said at the same time. They finally looked at each other and started smiling at each other.  
"About yesterday, it..it was nothing.", Michonne said. Which kind of surprised Rick from on the look on his face.  
"Michonne..."  
"It was just a moment of weakness.", she said.

 _Rick then stares her straight into her brown eyes and grabs her hand._  
"But the thing is..." Rick said, when Michonne interrupted him before he could finish his sentence as she pulled away her hand.  
"But the thing is...you are with Jessie now."  
"You do like Jessie, don't you?"  
"Can't we just pretend it didn't happen... please?", Michonne stands up.  
 _  
Rick doesn't know what to say back. He wonders why she is like this. He did felt something and he was sure she did too. She could have walked away when he kissed her, but she kissed him back. And when they kissed, she didn't immediately pulled way. Everything felt just right at that moment. Did something happened today? Why?  
Rick paused.  
_

"Is that what you really want?", he asked, still gazing into her eyes the whole time.  
"Yes."  
"So you and Daryl?"  
"Goodnight, Rick."

 _Michonne pulls herself together quickly as she goes upstairs, to her bedroom. She sits on her bed with her own thoughts.  
She looks at her hand, the hand Rick just grabbed again. That warm hand she felt a lot lately. Every touch of him stoked a fire in her body. Everytime._  
 _Was there something going on between them? She now wonders what he was actually about to say, when she decided to interrupt him. There's no doubt, she did felt something. But maybe she's afraid. Afraid that Rick felt otherwise. What if she admitted her feelings and Rick didn't accept them? Besides, he's with Jessie. What could even happen? There's nothing she can do. She doesn't want to break them up. Never. That's not who she is. Jessie doesn't deserve it, Rick doesn't deserve it...  
And they are happy together. And maybe they are really in love.  
Her thoughts quickly shifted over to Daryl. Daryl..Everything is just so easy and not so complicated with him.  
He makes her feeling loved and happy. She loves being herself when she's around him. She needs to see him. See Daryl. She needs to see him, right now.  
_

Michonne goes downstairs and Rick is still on the couch. She meets his eyes for a second as she walks out through the front door.  
A little later, Michonne knocks on the door, when Daryl opens it. The sight of him, lighted up her face immediately.  
"Forgot something?"  
"Hey, that invitation from yesterday, does it still stand?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Good, I'll let you know when."

Michonne walks back to her house with a bright smile on her face.  
"Good."

* * *

 **Note: Dixonne! Diner date next! Did Michonne really felt something for Rick?** ** **And do you think Rick should tell Jessie about the kiss too?** Anyways, see you at the next chapter, and as always thanks for reading :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A few days later in Alexandria.**

It's been very quiet in Alexandria. Rick, Daryl and a few others are out on a supply run. Those who are left behind are repairing the town or doing their jobs. And from the look of it, it looks like they will finish soon. The walls are repaired and the church is almost done. The townies are planning on having a celebration party, for all the good work the community has done the past few weeks. Something normal is what they all wanted. But also, because a group will be going away for a while for reqruitment. 2 weeks at least or maybe longer. So it would be nice to have everybody together. It's been a while they recruited new people. It didn't come as a surprise, that Michonne is one of the volunteers to go with the group. She's been outside a lot of times since she came to Alexandria. She really isn't a person to sit still, she prefers to go on a run rather than to be on watch. Besides, Daryl is going too, that would be a lot of fun. Out together, like back in the days.

Michonne just finished her shift and she walks around the town, when she bumps in to Carl.

"Hey Carl, how are you?", Michonne asked.  
"I'm okay, not much to do today."  
"I'm going outside for a walk, wanna come?"  
"You don't have to ask me that twice." he said.  
Michonne pats him softly on his shoulder and they continue to walk through the town.  
"So, my dad and you. Everything ok?", Carl asked.  
"Yeah, why?"  
"I saw you guys the other night, in the house. Seems like you guys were having an argument.".  
"When?"  
"That night when it rained, you stormed out of the house. Dad went after you."

 _Michonne mind went blank for a second. That little fight she had with Rick. But did Carl saw her and Rick after that? Outside in the rain. That kiss, that meant nothing, she thought. But she did told Daryl about it, so does it mean Rick told Jessie too? He probably did, knowing him. Oh my god, Jessie. She hadn't thought about her at all._ _ _Should she ask Rick about it? But t_ hey both agreed to forget about it, right? Michonne stops and she looks at Carl.  
_  
"It was nothing, everything is good now. I promise." She said and smiled at Carl.

They are almost outside the town, when Heath and Tara walks up to them.  
"You guys heading out? Can we come with you?" They asked.

So the four go outside the walls, into the woods. Carl is already making progress with his eye training with Denise. But it's still hard for him to shoot and focus with one eye, so Michonne has been helping him with that. Soon they find a few walkers to practice with. Heath also enjoys the extra training with Michonne. And sometimes, they just go into the woods and walk for hours. Morgan calls that his "zen-therapy". It's to clear the mind and to walk for exercise, he said.

* * *

After a little bit of training, they return back at Alexandria, when they see the RV, which just pulled over. Michonne and Carl walks to them, in case they need any help.  
"Hey guys. You found anything?", Michonne asked.  
"Nothing much. Better luck tomorrow." Daryl said.

Daryl is holding a few boxes. Michonne grabs one to help out. And they walk to the storage room together.  
"Daryl.".  
"Yeah? "  
"You got any plans for tomorrow night?"  
"I guess not."  
"You will have now. I'll make dinner, your house?", as she smiled softly at Daryl.  
"Uuhh, ok.", he said.

Michonne puts the boxes away. She goes back to the RV. To Rick, who's still there, sorting out the boxes.  
"You need any help?"  
"I am almost done, thank you." Rick said, he continued to sort the boxes, when he noticed that Michonne was still standing there.  
"Everything alright here?", Rick asked.  
"Same same, like any other day. Everybody is doing their job."  
"Surprisely, it's been very quiet. Too quiet.", she said.  
"Are you worried?" he asked.  
"Not really, but you know, we can never catch a break."  
"I know the feeling.", Rick looked at her, knowing exactly what she meant.  
"So, how are you? You look good today.", Michonne said, she noticed his clean shaved face.  
"Yeah, my wound is healing perfectly. I'm glad to be back on my feet again." Rick said and smiled at Michonne.  
"Well, you better be more careful next time, and I mean it.", she said as she walked away.

Michonne then stops by Carol and Susan, who are working in the garden. The garden is outside Alexandria, close to the walls. Carol is checking and planting the fruits and vegetables, while Susan is watering them.

"Hey Carol. Susan."  
"I've got new seeds to plant. Cucumbers, I believe."  
"Oh, that's good."  
"Gosh, it looks amazing here." Michonne said as she looked at the garden.  
"Good thing it rained a few days ago, we needed that water. Look how much they grown." Carol said and she showed Michonne some tomatoes.  
"You got any tomatoes to spare?"  
"Sure, but why do you need them?", Carol asked. Michonne wasn't sure if she should tell Carol, but she decided to.  
"For Daryl", Michonne said shyly, she felt her cheeks blushing.  
Carol is trying her best to hide her smirk. But without any more questions she gives some tomatoes to Michonne.  
"Thanks".

* * *

 **Next day. 7 pm.  
**  
Michonne arrives at Daryl's house. Michonne brought a basket full of food and some other stuff, she thought she needed. Whatever she could find at home. She knocks on the door, and Daryl opens it.  
"Hey."  
"I'm going to make spaghetti. Fresh tomatoes!", as she showed them to Daryl.  
Michonne walks into his home and she looks around.  
"Where are Sasha and Abraham?"  
"Yeah, they are over at Maggie and Glenn's, having diner too, some couples thing. And Tara is upstairs with Denise."  
"Wanna help me cooking?"  
"Sure."

Michonne is making the final preparations and Daryl is helping her out by setting up the table. He lights up a few candles aswell.  
And just like that, they are sitting at the diner table in front of each other. Both eating the spaghetti quietly for some time. Not even looking at each other.  
"Oh my god. This is so weird.", Michonne said.  
"Tell me about it." Daryl said, he finally looked at Michonne.  
"It feels like a lifetime ago. You know, doing something like this."  
"I don't really know how to do this anymore.", she smiles awkwardly.  
"Yeah."  
The little chat made it even weirder, so they are eating there in silence again. This awkward silence, when Daryl had enough of it.

"Forget this shit. Wanna drink?" Daryl asked, as he stood up.  
"Oh, finally!", Michonne said, all relieved.  
Daryl walks over to his alcohol stack in the corner. Michonne is watching him, when she sees his alcohol stack. Well, the lack off.  
"Daryl, what happened with all the alcohol? You've been drinking this much?"  
"Didn't we got like a lot, the last time we went on a run?", she asked.  
"Yeah, I've been sharing them with Abraham, since he moved in here. But somehow people come knocking on my door. Just taking, whatever they want. Don't know how they found out about it.", Daryl mumbled.  
 _  
Michonne thoughts went to Carl and Rick immediately, since they were the only ones she told about it. No way, Carl could have tell anybody. And then there's Rick. Rick, you snitch, she thought.  
_

"Anything you like?" he asked.  
"Everything is fine." Michonne answered as she moved the food to the livingroom. She puts the plates on the coffee table and sits on the couch comfortably. Daryl joins her quickly after he found a bottle of red wine.  
They ended up eating at the couch, either one a plate of spaghetti and a glass of wine. With some old 60's movie on the television.  
"Sorry, if this doesn't taste as good as Aaron's.", Michonne said.  
"It's good.", Daryl said, not wanting to hurt her feelings. But it was actually good, besides he enjoys whatever food he can have.

They were enjoying some quality time together and getting to know each other more. Daryl is telling stories of his brother Merle. Michonne is quite surprised how much he changed the past few months. From the moment they first met, until now. He's still a loner, for sure, but he's more open. Especially to her. He was also cracking up at her silly jokes. She's sitting there close to Daryl, enjoying his stories, when they hear several guns going off outside.  
"What the hell was that?"  
They both look at each other and run outside as fast as they can. Tara and Denise joins them quickly. Most of the townies are outside by now, all wondering what is happening. Lots of noises and guns sounds.

"What's going on?"  
"Wolves! And they brought a herd of walkers with them.", Glenn said in a hurry, while he ran past them.  
"Those wolves at it again?", Daryl said angrily.  
"Only about 4 or so, if I heard correctly, but the herd is more of a problem now. Come on!", Glenn shouted back.  
"Damnit! Let's go!" Daryl said.

Michonne goes to her house to grab her katana, when she sees Jessie and her kids coming out from their house.  
"Oh my god, Michonne..what's happening?", Jessie asked.  
"We're getting attacked again. Wolves.  
"What should I do?", she asked scarily. Jessie is holding Sam tightly and is starting to panic.  
"Jessie, you and the kids go inside. Stay there until its safe!"  
Michonne takes Jessie and her family to her house, when Carl opens the door. Enid is also there, holding Judith.  
"Carl, where's your dad?", Michonne asked.  
"He's already outside at the gate. Told me to stay here with Judith."  
"Ok, that's good. Take care of them too, Carl", as she looked over to them. She runs to her room to get her stuff  
"Lock the doors! Stay safe!", she said as she closed the front door.

Everybody is gathering at the front gate, where Rick is explaining the situation and giving out orders.  
"The wolves just attacked us again. They ran away after they brought all those walkers to us. Everybody defend each part of the town, every single wall. They have us surrounded. Go now!"

Everybody is doing exactly what Rick told them to do. Rick and a few others are outside the walls, killing the walkers, while the shooters are covering them from the towers. Michonne is at the back of the town, defending the walls with a few others. There's a lot more walkers then last time, the wolves have been planning this attack thoroughly. Spencer notices a wolf, who's watching them in the distance. Without any thoughts, he runs to him, as he fights the walkers on his way.  
"Spencer!", Michonne shouted at him, while she killed the walkers around her. Spencer didn't bother to look back. Michonne is so busy fighting the walkers off her, that she loses sight of Spencer.  
"Shit!".  
She kills a few more walkers before she's able to go after Spencer. She runs into the woods, hoping to catch him soon. In time, before something horrible is going to happen. Nobody is going to die tonight. Not on her watch.

* * *

 **Back at Alexandria. Midnight.**

It took about 2 long hours to kill most of the walkers. They used their cars to distract the walkers. The cars drove the herd apart and lured them away from Alexandria. Luckily, no walker was able to enter their town and they didn't do any damage this time. They were also lucky they were prepared, everybody was ready to fight. There are still a few walkers roaming around, but they aren't a real threat, as long as they aren't in large groups anymore. The townies slowly gathers at the center of the town for the heads up. Rick and the others are back inside the walls aswell.

"Everybody, you did good. Is everybody alright?"  
"Everything cleared at the back too?", Rick asked as he looked around.  
Everybody look at each other, when they notices that there are people missing. 2 people to be exact.  
"Wait, where's Spencer..and Michonne?  
Michonne?", Rick asked, while his voice dropped.

"Michonne, where's Michonne?", Daryl repeated, his face turned all white and tense.

* * *

They looked everywhere in Alexandria, but no sight of Spencer and Michonne. Rick asked around, but nobody haven't seen her ever since the attack.  
"I-I don't know where she is.", Tara said.  
"She was next to me last time I saw her. I don't know. We were all busy fighting the walkers."

By this time, everybody is starting to get worried. It's already midnight and it's even more dangerous to be outside the walls.  
"Do you think the wolves got them?", Maggie asked.  
Everybody is asking questions. Rick is gathering a small group to go and they are making a plan.

"Do what you want, I ain't gonna wait for nobody.", Daryl said, as he walked towards the front gate. Not caring one bit what everybody is saying.  
"Daryl, wait!"  
"We're coming with you." Rick said.  
"Everybody stay alert, in case the wolves come back."  
"Glenn.", Rick nodded at him.  
Glenn nods back at Rick, as he knows what to do. Daryl, Rick and a few others walk to the gate, when Sasha calls them.

"Guys, guys. Look! They're back!", Sasha shouted from above the tower post.  
Sasha points forward, to Michonne and Spencer in the far distance, who are on their way back to Alexandria. Daryl and Rick quickly rush to the gate to see for themselves. They both let out a sigh of relief.  
"Everybody, quick, help us clear the path for them." Rick said.  
They all start to kill the walkers in front of the gate, so that Michonne and Spencer can come home safely.

* * *

Michonne was able to catch up on Spencer, but the wolf got away by the time she found him. She even had to convince Spencer to come back home with her. Luckily he did.

"Spencer, you can't do that again. You can't just run after them. Not alone."  
"Michonne, you know what they did. Last time, when they came here. They were the reason my mother got killed.", Spencer said angrily.  
"Or that guy, who kidnapped Denise."  
"I know.", Michonne said.  
"And that time at the junkyard. They got another one of us killed, again!"  
"We will get them next time, I promise. But not like this."  
"I don't want you dead Spencer, I need you to stay alive. You're family." Michonne said. Spencer was taken aback at her words, it's been a long time he heard the word _family_.

"Oh yeah, one more thing..."  
"What's that?"  
"Don't make me go after you again."  
Spencer looks at Michonne and he smirks at her a little.

Spencer and Michonne rushes back home and kills the few walkers on their way. Luckily the others were able to make a clear path for them. When they are near the gate, Rick is about to go to Michonne, when Daryl rushes by him. Rick stops and he looks over at Daryl. Daryl, who's running towards Michonne.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?", Daryl asked worriedly. Carefully eyeing her whole body, looking if she's hurt. He then grabs her tightly for a hug, not even waiting for her answer.  
"I'm okay. We're okay", Michonne said as she hugged him back.

Everybody is waiting for them inside Alexandria. Carl runs over to hug Michonne when he sees her.  
"I'm glad you're back, Michonne." Carl said. Michonne kisses him on his head.  
"Me too, kid."

The townies are all gathering around Michonne and Spencer, wanting to know what happened.

 _Rick stands at the back, looking at Michonne. Eventhough she's back and safe, but he does not feel at ease yet. He was worried sick when he heard that Michonne was gone. His heart dropped when he couldn't find her, couldn't see her. It wasn't even that long time ago he felt like this, it just happened when Carl got shot in his eye. To be honest, he couldn't even think straight, but he was trying his best to not worry the others. The sight of her now, in front of his eyes. He wants to hold her, to touch her. To make sure, she's indeed back. Back in his life. His heart is beating like crazy.  
_

 _Rick takes a deep breath and he takes a step forward, when someone calls his name. "Rick."  
_

"Rick."  
Rick then look to his left. It's Jessie, who's standing next to him. He quickly snaps out of his thoughts.  
"Oh, Jessie. Are you okay?"  
"Rick, I thought I was ready to fight. I thought I was strong. I thought I was able to defend myself against those walkers. But I got scared and, and..." Jessie said, she started to sob softly.  
Jessie leans in to hug Rick. Rick hugs her back, trying to comfort her. But his mind was on Michonne the whole time. His eyes are slowly wandering back to Michonne again.

Michonne who's standing there with Daryl now. Together.

 _"I've had her. I've had her by my side all this time. And now I lost her."_

* * *

 **Note: Yay, Dixonne are a thing now! Rick starting to feel something for Michonne! Party next chapter!  
See you at the next chapter, and as always thanks for reading! :)  
**


	8. Author's Note!

**Update!**

Hey guys. I'm finally back. I've just started back-reading my stories and how to continue with them.

I totally forgot that FanFiction removes un-edited documents after 90 days. So, sadly all my written docs are gone. I actually had written out ideas and almost completed several chapters back then. Now I have to re-write the new chapters and come up with new ideas.

If you have any ideas etc for my story. Feel free to let me know. (Team Dixonne or Richonne?)  
Thanks for reading, favorites and your patience. See you in the new update!

xoxo


	9. Chapter 8

Rick is still hugging Jessie as he's watching Michonne.  
He finally looks back at Jessie.  
"Jessie, can you wait a minute? I'll bring you home soon." Rick said.  
Rick goes over to Michonne. He softly tabs her on her shoulder. As Michonne turns around, Rick already grabs her for a hug.  
"Rick."  
"Michonne, I'm glad you're here." he hugs her tightly.  
"I'm fine, Rick. We're okay. Everybody is." Michonne said.

He wants to hug her a bit longer but he can't. Because everybody is watching them, waiting for Rick's order.

"Good job everyone. You all did great. First of all, we are moving the bodies in case the smell gets worse. And we gonna kill the remaining walkers outside the gate. We appreciate every help we can get, but if you are too tired, or aren't able to help, you can go home to rest. Let's do this!" Rick said.

 **A few hours later.**  
It's past midnight. Most people went home already. Some are still up cleaning the town. Rick joins them soon after he brought Carl and Jessie home.  
Michonne is helping Daryl at the front gate. While she kills the walkers, Daryl and the others lift the bodies on to the truck. Ready to be burn tomorrow.  
Everybody did their job quietly. They were all exhausted after this long night. They ended up cleaning the town until the sun rise. Rick was waiting for Michonne until she was done. They went home together.

 **Next morning.  
** Michonne wakes up at noon. The sun shines brightly through her window. She takes a shower and does everything at her own pace. She opens her closet and picks whatever she sees at first sight. Michonne walks through the house and notices that nobody is around. She grabs a tiny bowl and fill it with milk and cereal. While she's eating her thoughts went to Daryl.

 _Daryl._ _Shit._ _Date._ _I_ _t ended up abruptly._ _She_ _totally forgot about it._ _What a crazy night._ __

Michonne quickly finish her cereal and goes to Daryl's house. She's about to knock when Daryl opens the door.  
"Michonne?" he looked confused.  
Michonne got startled for a second. "Daryl?" she answered back.  
"What are you doing here? You're not going to the town meeting? Daryl said.  
"No, nothing that I heard of."  
"The recruit trip. Change of plans." he said.  
They both go to the town meeting. It's in the new church, on the other side of the town.  
Rick is already there. He notices her immediataly and nods to her. It's just a small group of people at the meeting. Mostly the recruiters.  
They were originally going away for only 2 weeks. But one of the residents mapped out a better route, so they will be going away for a month instead. It's going to take more time, it's going to be more dangerous but they'll have a better chance at finding supplies. Finding food. And finding new people for their community.

* * *

 **A few days later. The day of the party.** **6PM.**  
Although the town reparation wasn't properly done yet, they decided to have the party early because the reqruiters are leaving tomorrow.

Michonne looks through her wardrobe. A dress was too fancy she thought. So she picks a black leather skirt which she combines it with a blue tanktop. She puts her hair in a bun and puts on a peach colored lipstick. As she looks in the mirror she smiles to herself. This is weird but also nice she thought.  
There is a soft knock on her door. She looks over as Carl is standing there. Holding a tie in his hand. She laughs. "Give me that."  
She grabs his tie and puts it on Carl. Carl jokingly laughs at her, as it takes her a few times to tie it correctly.  
"Oh come on. It's been a long time!" Michonne said.  
"You are growing into a handsome young man." as she finished the tie.  
Rick knocks on the door. "Everybody ready?" he asked.  
"Ready to go." they both answered.  
Rick smiles at Michonne. "You look nice" he said.  
"You too." Michonne smiled back.  
"Are we picking up Jessie and her sons first?" she asked.  
"I'll meet her there at the party. I just want to spend some time with my family." Rick said.

So they decided to go to the party together. Michonne carries Judith in her arms. She wants to cuddle Judith as much as she can before she leaves tomorrow.  
The party is at Spencer's house. Soft music is coming from the house. People slowly gather at the house.

They knock on the door, as one of the Alexandria resident opens the door.

"Welcome. Grimes family, isn't it? Come in." the woman said.  
Both Rick and Michonne laugh as they look at each other. And they enter the house.  
At first it was a weird sight for Michonne. Everybody all dressed up, looking happy and normal. But that passes by quickly when she spots her friends.

Spencer gave a beautiful speech for the townies, for the reqruiters. Heath then take over his speech.  
"And now lets enjoy the party. Lets have some fun. I hope you guys still know how to dance right? Everybody pick someone and dance!" He plays a slow song.  
Couples begin to dance together. Jessie begged Rick to dance and he eventually gave in.  
Abraham dances with Michonne.  
"And now we're going to swap partners. On the count of 3."  
"1.2..3.."  
They all swap partners as Michonne ends up with Rick. Both of them blushes slightly. As they are both dancing awkwardly together, almost uncomfortable Michonne decides to break the silence.  
"So, what do you think?" she asked him.  
"Of what?"  
"This. All of this. It almost feels like normal, don't you think? Seeing everybody dressed up, happy, dancing, talking. Still alive." Michonne said.  
"It is. It's good right?" Rick said.  
"You did this, Rick. Look around you." she smiled.

Rick looks around the room. His then locks eyes with Carol, who sigh eyed him in return. Rick gets flustered.  
"Not without your help." he said back.

"So, you really have to go, huh?" he continued.  
 _He was fine with her going away for 2 weeks, but not for a whole month._ _They have never been away from each other for that long since they met.  
_  
"I'm going to be fine and so will you. You have to have more faith in yourself." she said.  
"There are a lot of people here. We all help each other. Our family. Glenn, Maggie, Tara, Jessie."  
They both look over at Jessie, who's dancing happily with Tobin.  
"Look at her. She looks happy now.". Michonne said.  
"It's different." Rick said.  
1..2...3 and change!" Heath once again shouted.  
Rick then ends up with Maggie. And Michonne with Glenn this time.

 _It's been a while she spoken to Glenn.  
_ _Eventhough they are all living in Alexandria. There are times that some of them don't even see each other that often. Busy with fixing the town, on a watch or away on a supply run._ _For Michonne, the latter._ _  
_  
"You sure you don't need me to go tomorrow?" Glenn asked.  
"Not this time. We thought it's best for you to sit his one out. Stay here. Enjoy some time with Maggie. Have some rest. You've done so much for us already. You are good Glenn."  
"Thank you." Glenn smiles at Michonne.  
1..2..3..and change!

Rick sees Daryl sitting in the corner. He grabs 2 beer bottles as he joins him.  
'Hey, didn't knew you were here." Rick handed a beer to Daryl.  
"Thanks. Yeah, I just got here. I just thought..ya know."  
"It's good." Rick said. Rick understands Daryl, he doesn't have to say anything. He's happy that Daryl is actually with them now and not somewhere alone.

It was a wonderful night. Everybody was having a good time and they were dancing the night away.

Michonne decided that it's time for her to go home. She wants to be fit and well rested for the trip tomorrow. And it's also way past bedtime for Judith. She goes over to Denise, who was watching over Judith.  
"Rick, we're going home. Bedtime for Judith. And Carl wanted to go home too." she said.  
"Allright, let me say goodbye to everybody." Rick said.  
"No, dad. Stay. Have fun." Carl said.  
Rick nods back at them. "You sure?" he said as he smiled.  
"Have fun." Michonne smiles.  
Rick kisses both Carl and Judith and he softly grabs Michonne's arm. Michonne then looks over at Daryl, who's been on the couch the whole night.  
"Daryl. See you tomorrow." as she smiled at him too.  
"Goodnight." Daryl lifted up his beer.

Judith is sleeping in Michonne's arms, while she and Carl walk back home.  
"So did you had fun tonight?" she asked Carl.  
"It's better now. The kids here aren't that bad as I thought they were."  
"I'm gonna miss you." Carl said sadly.  
"I'll miss you too, kid."  
"I wish I can go with you, but my dad..."  
"I know, Carl. But it's too dangerous and you aren't fully recovered yet." Michonne said.  
"But I promise I bring you something back. Something nice. What you say?"  
"That's at least you can do." Carl said jokingly.

* * *

 **Next morning. 6AM.  
** Michonne is all dressed up, ready to go. She grabs her stuff and goes downstairs. She sees Carl sitting at the kitchen table, which surprises her.  
"Carl, why are you up so early?"  
"Morning."  
"I just want to spend a little more time with you."  
"That's nice of you."  
"Cereals?" he asked as he reached to it.  
"Yes, please." As Michonne joined him.  
"Rick?" she asked.  
"Still sleeping. I don't know what time he came home." Carl said.  
"You're not going to say goodbye to him?" He asked.  
"No, let him sleep."

"Alright, it's time for me to go."  
"I can send you off." Carl said.  
She hugs Carl.  
"It's okay. Stay home. I'll see you in a month, right?"  
"Come back safely. Don't do anything stupid." he said.  
"I will. And you too."  
"And Carl. Promise me to take care of your dad. Don't be too hard on him. He's doing his best."

 _Michonne notices that about Carl. She doesn't know if it's because he's a teenager or that he's feeling distant with his dad lately. He's being pushing_ _Rick_ _away. She doesn't like it. Not at all. Maybe it really is good that she's going away for a while. Time for them to re-connect, on their own._ _And maybe, maybe she needs to move out the house when she returns._

She hugs him again and then leaves the house.

* * *

It's quiet in the town. Since it's still early in the morning, most of the residents are still sleeping. The reqruiters are gathering at the gate.

"Ugh my head. I think I drank too much last night." Heath said. They all laugh at him.  
"You sure you're up for it?" Sasha asked Heath.  
"I'm going to sleep it off on the way."  
"So, Rick not coming?" They all asked Michonne.  
"No, he's still sleeping. Didn't want to wake him up." she said.  
"Probably a rough night too?" Abraham said. They all laughed again.  
"Seriously, what happened after I left last night?" Michonne asked.  
"Oh, you don't wanna know." Sasha said.  
"Rick? I don't know about Rick though. He was with Jessie last time I saw him." Maggie said.

By then, Daryl joins the group. Michonne notices the new poncho Daryl is wearing. She smiles at him.  
"Ready to go, mam?" Daryl asked her.  
"So ready. I need this." she said.  
"You sure, you wanna do this? It's going be a long trip. You know, a long trip with Heath."  
"Heeeey!" Heath said. They all laughed again.

 _Deep down, Daryl wasn't too thrilled that Michonne was coming with him. Sure, it's nice to see her everyday but he'd rather for her to stay in Alexandria._ _To not worry._ _But he knew that Rick was already not too happy about it._ _In fact they talked about Michonne at the party._ _But_ _he_ _will keep her safe._ _He'll_ _protect her with all_ _his_ _heart._

They load their van, check their weapons and supplies. Maggie and Enid made them sandwiches for the road. They say their goodbyes and are ready to take off.  
"Speech!", Abraham shouted. They all look at Daryl.  
"Come on, speech!" Abraham repeated.  
Daryl looks at Michonne who surpisely is also waiting for his speech. She smiles at him with a grin.  
"Come on, we're waiting." she jokingly pushes him. Daryl looks at all of them in disbelief.  
"Seriously?".  
He pauses.  
"Aight, guys. You know the deal. It's going to be a dangerous and long trip. We don't know what or who we will meet on the roads. But we're doing this for the people here. For the community. You can still back out, here's your chance. Other then that, let's go on this motherfucking trip."  
"Yeah!" They all cheered and applauded.

 **8AM.  
** **Rick is still sleeping peacefully, when the sound of crying Judith wakes him up.** He goes to pick her up and takes her downstairs. Carl is on the couch reading one of his books.  
"Morning, dad." Rick looks around the room.  
"Is Michonne still sleeping?" he asked.  
"Dad, Michonne left some time ago. She's on the reqruiting team, remember?" Carl said.  
"What time is it?"  
"Around 8 am."  
"Can you watch Judith for a few minutes?" he asked.

Rick quickly dresses up and fixes his hair in a hurry. He rushes to the front gates as fast as he can. Just before he arrives at the front gate, the van drives off and Daryl with his motorcycle. Rick walks through the gate and watches them.  
"Hey Rick." He looks up and sees Glenn on watch.  
"You just missed them. You forgot anything?" Glenn asked. Glenn looks at Rick who's still catching his breath.  
"Nothing, Glenn. All good."

 _ _Michonn__ _ _e.__ _ _He__ _ _had to see her. To see her face. To tell her goodbye. To tell her to be safe. Because...__ _ _he__ _ _also need__ _ _s__ _ _to tell ... to not get with Daryl.__

Abraham who's driving the van notices Rick through the rearview mirror.  
"Hey, Rick is at the gate." he said.  
"Rick? Should we go back? Maybe we forgot something?" Sasha asked.  
"Nah, if it's important he would have come after us by now. He probably came to send us off." Abraham continued the drive.  
Michonne, who's riding shotgun, looks in the side mirror. She vaguely sees Rick in the background.

 _Rick? What is he doing there? And what is it with him lately? Acting all weird and stuff._

 _Her eyes then goes to Daryl, who's riding in front of them. On his fixed motorcycle. With the new poncho he's wearing, his muscled tanned arms. Hair all messed up by the wind. Her face lights up._  
 _"Daryl."_

Rick continues to look at the van until it disappears in the distance.

 _It's going to be a long month without them. Without her.  
I haven't told her that I broke up with Jessie, last night._

* * *

 **Note: It's going to be a long month for Rick! But also a long month for Michonne and Daryl!  
See you at the next chapter, and as always thanks for reading! :)**


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